1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the management of communications networks and, in particular, to the optimization of topology and technology types within a network to support certain traffic types.
2. Description of Related Art
Historically, communications networks have been designed as tightly coupled systems wherein one traffic type, one technology type, and one topology type are linked together to define and provide communications service through the network. For example, a communications network being designed to primarily handle voice traffic may utilize a completely different selection of technology and topology type than a network being designed to primarily handle data (computer) traffic. It is not unusual, however, for one of these tightly coupled designed networks to handle a wide variety of traffic types, or alternatively for the type of traffic being handled by that network to vary over time. That being the case, instances may arise where the communications network is not configured from a technology and topology perspective to provide optimal service in view of the currently being handled traffic. There is need for greater flexibility in communications network configuration and operation to serve a variety of traffic needs in an optimal fashion.
Generic routing nodes are interconnected to form a core communications network. By xe2x80x9cgenericxe2x80x9d it is meant that the routing nodes are not configured to utilize a single type of switching technology in the context of a single type of networking topology. Instead, the generic routing nodes are dynamically configured by an optimizer functionality to implement a certain switching technology type and networking topology type, and thus optimize portions of the communications network to handle different types of traffic. Traffic of the various different types may then be routed for handling by its correspondingly optimized portion of the network.